Jason's life sucked. From the moment he was born to the moment he died.

Even after he died, it kept on sucking.

His mother was a whore. Not by choice, but there was nothing she could do. Gifted with good looks, she could entice the delvers to her bed. Jason never knew his father. He was born in the brothel her mother worked. He grew with a lot of other kids, all sons and daughters of whores. It was the duty of the girls during their days of the month to look after the children. Jason was a quiet baby, almost never cried. Since all the other children demanded so much attention, he was neglected by the nannies.

Then disaster struck. One of the clients tried to force Jason's mother to do something she didn't want to, and he struck her. Using a dagger, he cut her face to ribbons. Without her good looks, she lost her clients and was expelled from the brothel for not bringing in enough money. A whorehouse was not a charity.

They moved to the slums of Glauchester. Her mother would sell her body for a few copper solidii while Jason slept on his crib, hidden behind a folding screen. Somehow she was able to acquire a regeneration potion and it alleviated her scars. She got a job in a brothel at the edge of the slums. She still earned solidii but at least it was a handful of them, not just a few. Jason was back to the brothel's backyard daycare.

Her mother contracted a nasty disease when he was six. She died months later but left Jason some money. The brothel took the money as surcharges for caring for Jason. He had to hear how charitable they were to leave an orphan stay there. The other kids bullied him. He was called a parasite behind his back.

When he reached eleven years old, the matron of the brothel died. Her son took over the business and took to abuse the girls. To cut costs, Jason was thrown out, even though most of the girls protested. He saw the owner hit one of them and his blood boiled. Jason decided to walk away on his own after vowing to get back at him. Someday.

He was quiet and had a small frame. Not good qualities for an orphan in the slums. Jason got by through begging and doing some errands. He never stole. He was hungry most of the time and had to avoid the other orphans and the criminals. He saw what the criminals did to the orphans they hired, and wanted nothing of that.

Jason did get beaten from time to time. He had nothing that belonged to him, as anything he had would be stolen the next day. The clothes he wore were too big for him. Discarded scraps. Jason never stole. Sometimes he had to kill a rat or a cat to feed himself.

Years went by and Jason completed fifteen years old. He knew he should go to the church to pray for his Skill but he never went. The orphans had to work for two years to pay for the tutoring. Jason didn't want to give his years off in servitude for the privilege of hearing One God drivel. Besides, he knew that orphans in the slums had shitty Skills.

It was a cold winter night. Jason was shivering, burning whatever energy his body had to keep himself warm. He wished he could ignore the cold. His wish was granted.

Skill [Elemental Immunity] (C-rank) learned.

Grants resistance to (1 + level / 25) elemental damage types. To select an element type as your immunity, you need to see an effect of that element. The immunity lasts until replaced by another element. Currently selected: Cold.

And just like that, he could ignore the cold. Jason still acted as if he was shivering in cold, but he could sleep on the snow now. He felt life brighten for a moment. He had a C-rank Skill. The third strongest Skill tier.

After he got his Skill, Jason had to kill some rats to feed himself. He reached level 3 killing a few rats.

Jason kept living in the slums through the next year. In fact, he spent the rest of his life in the slums. Whatever was left of it. A shadow crawled over him and Jason saw red glowing eyes inside it. He felt his body freeze. His mind stopped. All Jason could do was stare into those red eyes. He came into himself when he was hanging upside down in a dark, damp place. He heard a haughty woman's voice.

"Is this the boy you want me to make a thrall of? This scrawny feeble whelp?"

A raspy man's voice answered. "Yes, auntie. I saw with my appraise proficiency. He has aa valuable Skill. He is immune to elemental damage. Probably to these priests pesky Holy magic. He could kill them for us."

"What is his level?"

"Three, auntie. But he can grow fast. We send him to feed. He grows. He kills priests. We become free again."

Jason tried to think but his blood was all flushing his head. He felt dizzy and struggled to get free. He couldn't see a thing.

"He is awake. Very well. I'll make him a thrall. If he fails in killing the priests, I'll destroy you both."

"Good! You do that, auntie. I trust this boy will be the key to our freedom!"

The woman called "Auntie" came near him. He could smell women's perfume. One that brought a nostalgic feeling, of a house full of women and children. A house where bodies were sold. Gentle hands curled around his head and shoulder. He was kissed by a woman for the first time, on the neck. And the last.

Fangs sunk into Jason's neck and his lifeblood was drained away.

Jason died.

But his story didn't end there.

Jason opened his eyes and tried to suck in air. His chest moved but while he was in a cramped space and the air was thick, he wasn't choking. He felt hungry. Thirsty. A hunger and a thirst that were one and the same. He took a bearing of his whereabouts and found himself in a box. A wooden box. He knew it was pitch dark but he could see.

Jason was in a coffin.

He pulled the lid and it opened. It creaked. The hinges kept the lid attached to the base. Jason lifted himself off the coffin and looked around. Several other coffins were around, some fancier than his. Was he in a crypt? It seemed so. He could see the stone ceiling, smell the damp air, the mold.

He hungered. Jason left his coffin and saw shapes moving. People. A thought invaded his mind. Delicious people. Jason was appalled by it. He moved around.

"Stop there, boy!" A haughty woman's voice commanded him. Jason stopped. He knew he wasn't fast and not even where he was. Whoever spoke, he probably couldn't run away. "Come here. You are hungry. I'll feed you."

He couldn't disobey. He didn't want to disobey. Jason moved toward the voice and saw a plump, beautiful woman. Pale skin. Penetrating red eyes. Glowing red eyes. He remembered something and flinched.

"Hold him."

He felt a rush of air behind him and strong hands held his arms. The woman came near him and bit her own arm. Blood dripped from two round holes and Jason craved the blood.

That moment he knew what happened to him. He knew the rumors. There were vampires in the catacombs underneath Glauchester. And now he knew it was true. Now he knew he was one of them. The arm came and the instincts of Jason's new un-life took over.

Jason drank Auntie's blood, forever binding him to her will. Until he was strong enough to break the bond or Auntie died.

"Good boy. Now check your Status and tell me everything you see.

Name: Jason (no surname)

Race: Vampire (human).

Level: 3

Class: None

Profession: None

Base Stats: Strength: 12 — Agility: 14 — Health: 4 — Intellect: 11 — Charisma: 15

Available Status Points: 2

Skills: [Elemental Immunity] (C-rank)

Traits:

[Sunlight Vulnerability]: Dies if exposed to direct sunlight. Indirect sunlight burns and might even kill. Can see perfectly in darkness.

[Vampiric Charm]: Unlocks Charisma. Able to hypnotize people with his gaze.

[Blood Depedency]: Requires only blood for sustenance. Eschews the need for food, water or air.

[Vampire Thrall]: Absolutely under the command of one's creator. Can only be set free by Royal blood or the death of the creator.

Proficiencies: Begging: 4

Jason couldn't help but repeat everything. He couldn't fight her commands. He became a vampire thrall.

His first task under Auntie's supervision was to secure a source of food. Once a week, he had to visit the slums and bring back one person. Jason went for the criminals when he could, or the people that bullied him. Over a few months, he reached level 25.

You reached level 25. [Bat Form] learned. Shift into a bat. Halves Strength and Health. Increases Agility by 50%.

Auntie sent him to kill some priests that lived in the house above. First, he acquired immunity to Holy damage by witnessing the thrall that recruited him to fake an attack against the priest. He became dust. He also changed his first immunity from cold to fire.

With that, the priests' spells were nothing to Jason. He attacked their house, a big mansion over the catacombs, drank their blood and ended the undead-hunting priests. During the fight, the house burned down to the ground. Jason retreated to the catacombs and became Auntie's top hunter. Every week, a new person.

Things went well for a few years until some delvers started to use the upper catacombs to smuggle goods. Auntie told them to lay low and don't mess with these delvers. Jason had to be extra careful to avoid them.

He was slowly gaining in levels from the people he hunted. One year after his conversion, the delvers stopped their operations. Jason and the other thrall were sent up to check what was going on. They found a party of delvers burning the remnants of the old mansion. Jason's fellow thrall tried to appraise them but fainted from mental exertion. It meant these delvers were strong.

Auntie told them to investigate, but it seemed every time they moved, the leader of these delvers came down to investigate. Somehow, she could sense them moving in the upper catacombs.

Jason was not surprised when he was sent up to investigate. Moving around using bat form seemed to trigger no alerts. When he flew through the upper levels of the catacombs, he saw that a section was closed off. The part next to the church's graveyard. He flew through the tunnels and soon saw that the upper level of the catacombs had changed. The walls were taller, smoother. The tunnel was wider.

He flew up and saw the access to the surface changed. The basement was bigger. And it felt like it was made of a single block of stone. Everything was seamless. Jason flew up and spent the next days watching the delvers. None of them were human. The girl that was their leader didn't seem human. He was afraid of them and stayed on the surface, hiding in the orchard during the night, flying around their camp to get a good look and hiding inside a crypt in the graveyard during the day.

Jason eavesdropped their conversations several times. He learned that their leader, the girl with crow hair and hazel eyes called Cless, was Royalty. His ticket out of slavery. Satisfied, he flew down.

The catacombs were clamoring for war. Cless channeled the rain water to the underground and the crypts were flooded. Auntie was trapped in her coffin.

The few vampires that were out of their coffins when the torrential floods ruined their catacombs demanded retribution against that girl.